Search — Theology Explorer

deaconess history women's baptism ministry anointing ministry

Church history: women had distinct ministry roles (baptism assistance, anointing); called deacons

Mike provides historical context for women's active ministry.

eldership women deacons deacons

Transition to deacons: eldership is male; deacons are the question

Mike frames the deacon discussion.

1 Timothy 3:11 church history 1 Timothy 3:11 diakonos

The word 'deaconess' didn't exist yet; Paul used 'gunaikas' because no feminine term was available

Mike explains why Paul didn't use a feminine deacon term.

Two Views on Women in Ministry Craig Blomberg deaconess history

Craig Blomberg on early church deaconesses: common for centuries with pastoral care and baptism roles

Mike cites historical support for women deacons.

Mike Winger idea 2022-05-09

Pliny's letter to Trajan: early evidence of female deaconesses (c. 110 AD)

Mike provides extra-biblical historical evidence for female deacons.

Pliny the Younger Emperor Trajan Pliny's letter to Trajan

Mike Winger idea 2022-05-30

Five egalitarian arguments previewed; first two are weak, last three are stronger

Mike previews the five arguments he will cover: persecution, rabbi-training, universal priesthood, prophecy, and spiritual gifts. He says the first two are weak but the last three challenged him and offer corrections for complementarians.

soft complementarianism complementarianism egalitarianism

Mike Winger idea 2022-05-30

There is no select group of priests within the body of Christ in the New Testament

Mike explains that the concept of a special clerical priesthood arose from culture and church history, not from the NT or apostolic teaching.

presbyter priesthood Roman Catholicism

video structure medical argument church history argument

Four sections of the video: medical argument, church history argument, Bible study argument, Greek/lexical argument

Mike outlines the four egalitarian arguments he will address.

John Chrysostom John Chrysostom church history argument Kathleen Kroeger

Church history argument introduced: Chrysostom supposedly shows kephale doesn't mean authority

Mike introduces the second egalitarian argument — Kathleen Kroeger's use of Chrysostom.

John Chrysostom John Chrysostom Kathleen Kroeger Christians for Biblical Equality

Church history argument: Kathleen Kroeger, founder of Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE)

Mike introduces the church history argument and Kathleen Kroeger's significance.

church history male eldership female deacons

Church history conclusion: the church has virtually always agreed that headship means authority and that eldership is male-only

Mike summarizes the church history argument.

egalitarian scholarship critique misinformation scholarly accountability

Mike's assessment: egalitarian scholarship on kephale is propped up with misinformation

Mike offers his overall evaluation of egalitarian lexical scholarship.

kephale complementarianism male headship

Five conclusions: (1) medical thought supports authority; (2) Paul's context implies authority; (3) church history supports authority; (4) lexical study strongly supports authority; (5) egalitarian claims are often problematic

Mike presents his five summary conclusions for the video.

Mike Winger idea 2022-08-15

Central question of the video: Does the Bible teach an authority imbalance in marriage?

Mike frames the core question for the entire video, distinguishing it from the simpler question of whether wives should submit.

complementarianism egalitarianism marriage authority

Mike Winger idea 2022-08-15

Church history has strongly supported complementarian interpretation

Mike appeals to historical consensus as supporting evidence.

church history historical consensus

Mike Winger idea 2022-08-15

Keener and egalitarians find husband's submission in two places

Mike identifies where egalitarians claim to find the husband submitting.

Ephesians 5:21-22 Craig Keener Ephesians 5:21-22 husband's submission

Mike Winger idea 2022-11-11

Question 3: What does kephale mean? Conclusions from video 8 on male headship

Mike references his prior detailed study on kephale.

kephale headship church history

Mike Winger idea 2022-11-11

Question 14: How does it apply today? The argument FOR transcultural head coverings (7 points)

Mike seriously engages the pro-head-covering position.

head covering movement transcultural application Elizabeth Farians

Mike Winger idea 2022-12-04

Interpolation View Hinge 1: No manuscript lacks these verses

Mike examines the manuscript evidence and finds that not a single manuscript omits 1 Corinthians 14:34-35.

1 Corinthians 14:34-35 1 Corinthians 14:40 textual criticism 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 manuscript evidence

Mike Winger idea 2022-12-04

Conclusions from manuscript evidence: most scholars rightly reject interpolation

Mike summarizes what the manuscript evidence teaches about the authenticity of the passage.

Bruce Metzger manuscript evidence scribal alteration

Mike Winger idea 2022-12-04

Paul spent 18 months in Corinth teaching men and women equally

Mike emphasizes the extensive Christian education Corinthian women had received by the time of this letter.

1 Corinthians 16:19 Apollos 1 Corinthians 16:19 Priscilla and Aquila

scholarly methodology egalitarian arguments historical reconstruction

What surprised Mike most: how bad egalitarian arguments are

Mike shares his biggest surprise from the research project.

German scholarship Gospel origins anti-Semitism in scholarship

Analogy to overturned German scholarship on the Gospels and Greek myths

Mike argues that entire schools of scholarly thought can be wrong and get overturned.

church history novelty of doctrine prophecy exception

Pillar 2 was not debated throughout church history — it is a very new debate

Mike argues from historical consistency.

early church practice women deacons history women baptizing women

Early church acknowledged women deacons; female Deacon-type needs were real

Mike adds historical and practical support for women deacons.

authenteo Coptic translation Gothic translation

Ancient translations of 1 Tim 2:12: how authenteo was rendered

Mike examines how the earliest Bible translations rendered authenteo, providing important evidence for its meaning.

authenteo Douglas Moo translation history

English translation history of authenteo and the NIV 'assume authority' rendering

Mike traces how English translations have rendered authenteo from Wycliffe to the present.

authenteo etymology etymological fallacy

Etymology of authenteo: from 'self-doer' to 'authority'

Mike briefly covers the etymological history of the authenteo word family.

1 Timothy 2:15 1 Timothy 2:15 sozo physical preservation view

View 1: Women saved from physical death during childbirth

Mike evaluates the view that 'saved through childbearing' refers to physical preservation during labor.

Mike Winger idea 2018-01-10

Matthew 24:7-14 describes inter-advent period, not end-time

Clarifying what the 'composite sign' actually refers to

Matthew 24:7-14 Matthew 24:7-14 Inter-advent period Church history

Mike Winger idea 2018-01-10

The abomination of desolation: Matthew 24:15 with Daniel 9, 11, 12

The actual sign that marks the beginning of the end-times

Matthew 24:15 Daniel 9 Daniel 11 Matthew 24:15 Abomination of desolation Daniel 9

Mike Winger idea 2018-02-14

Bill Johnson's background: pastor in Weaverville, then moved to Bethel Redding in 1996 with revival as his non-negotiable condition

Historical background on how the Bethel movement began

church history Bill Johnson Bethel Church

Joseph Smith Book of Abraham Pearl of Great Price

Introduction to the Book of Abraham as the key test case for Mormonism

Setting up the argument

Joseph Smith Book of Abraham 1835

Smith's diary entries document ongoing 'translation' work on Egyptian alphabet and grammar in late 1835

Documentary evidence from Smith's own journals

Joseph Smith Pearl of Great Price Egyptology

The original papyri were thought lost in the Great Chicago Fire; facsimile copies in Smith's own hand survive

The preservation history of the papyri evidence

Book of Abraham Joseph Smith Papyri Book of Breathings

The papyri are pagan Egyptian funerary texts — specifically the 'Book of Breathings' — belonging to a man named Hor

What Egyptologists actually found the papyri to contain

Abraham Joseph Smith Book of Abraham

The Book of Abraham has no connection to Abraham in time, geography, subject matter, or religion

Summary of what the papyri actually represent

Mike Winger idea 2018-02-21

Historical timeline: The blood transfusion ban originated in Watchtower publications in 1945 and escalated to a disfellowshipping offense in 1961.

Mike traces the doctrinal history of the JW blood transfusion policy to show it is a human invention, not an ancient or consistent teaching.

Jehovah's Witnesses Watchtower blood transfusion ban history

salvation Holy Spirit Harold Camping

Harold Camping and Family Radio: background, personal history, and two early warning signs of bad theology

Mike transitions to Harold Camping, whom he personally listened to as a teenager on AM radio. He shares two statements Camping made that first lost his trust.

Genesis 7:4 2 Peter 3:8 Psalm 90:4 hermeneutics Harold Camping numerology

Harold Camping's numerology: 7,000 years of creation history derived from combining Genesis 7:4 and 2 Peter 3:8

Mike now explains the mathematical system Camping used to arrive at his dates.

Calvary Chapel eschatology last generation fallacy

Reason 1: Every generation assumes it is the last generation

First of seven reasons people fall for end-times predictions.

hermeneutics numerology biblical symbolism

Q&A: Is biblical numerology nonsense? Distinction between symbolic numbers and predictive numerological systems

Question from Jessie Swanger.